‘Best Hospitals’ List Sparks Debate

The Medical Travel Quality Alliance (MTQUA) has issued its first list of the top 10 world’s best hospitals for medical tourists and the list has spurred debate within the medical travel industry over credentials and quality.

The MTQUA’s rankings could be seen as one group’s view of the 10 best hospitals, noted British medical travel and medical insurance expert Ian Youngman writing in the International Medical Travel Journal (www.imtj.com).

“Other medical tourism professionals might choose 10 completely different hospitals. It depends on the criteria that you use and what exactly you are able to compare. For example, in the U.S., Avery Comarow’s America’s Best Hospitals comes up with a very different set of rankings to HealthGrades because they are looking at different things. The difficulty in medical tourism and in comparing international hospitals is that no one has agreed the criteria for comparison; let alone how to collect the data to make these comparisons worthwhile.”

MTQUA founder Julie Munro, a medical travel facilitator based in Scottsdale, AZ, noted, “The medical traveler’s journey is a complex one and this list helps patients look beyond hospital websites where they can get the full spectrum of care management they need for a successful medical trip.”

She said these factors include location, value for services, medical quality, international patient marketing, international patient management, patient safety and security, transparency and attention to the unique needs of the medical traveler.

The list of MTQUA Top 10 World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists:

1. Fortis (formerly Wockhardt) Hospital, Bangalore, India (wockhardthospitals.net)

2. Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore (parkwayhealth.com)

3. Prince Court Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (princecourt.com)

4. Shouldice Hospital, Toronto, Canada (shouldice.com)

5. Schoen-Kliniken, Munich, Germany (schoen-kliniken.de)

6. Bumrungrad International, Bangkok, Thailand (bumrungrad.com)

7. Bangkok Hospital Medical Center, Bangkok, Thailand (bangkokhospital.com)

8. Wooridul Spine Hospital, Seoul, Korea (wooridul.com)

9. Clemenceau Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon (cmc.com.lb)

10. Christus Muguerza Super Specialty Hospital, Monterrey, Mexico (christusmuguerza.com.mx)

The full list and synopsis of services is posted on www.mtqa.com.

“Safety and security, international patient operations and protocols, transparency and professional patient facilitation are a key to achieving an excellent medical outcome for International patients, which is more important than just the cost of care,” stated Munro, who is CEO of InterMed Global.